MediaKind has enabled content providers, broadcasters and service providers to securely and reliably acquire live content and transition it smoothly through satellite, IP, and cloud to studios, and operators around the world.

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MediaKind provides a personalized experience from traditional multicast TV to unicast OTT services through a modern, multi-device, multi-screen platform for immersive TV service delivery that is backed by powerful analytics and dynamic ad-insertion features.

Project leverages MediaKind virtualized software encoding with deployment in public cloud and delivery to Deutsche Telekom consumers over the Magenta VR app

MediaKind, a global media technology leader, today announces that it has pushed the boundaries of immersive consumer experience of live sport by streaming the world’s first multi-channel 6K 360-degree live sports event in collaboration with Deutsche Telekom, Magnum Film, Tiledmedia, INVR.SPACE and Iconic Engine.

The multi-camera 360-degree live streaming showed the match between Telekom Baskets Bonn and EWE Baskets Oldenburg from the Telekom Dome in Bonn, Germany, on December 9, 2018. The live streams were delivered to customers of Deustche Telekom’s commercial Magenta VR service via a consumer app.

MediaKind led the technical project management, working alongside Deutsche Telekom, Magnum Film, Tiledmedia, INVR.SPACE and Iconic Engine to create and manage the entire live end-to-end system. Deutsche Telekom commissioned Magnum Film for the on-site acquisition and production of the sports event in 360-degree video. This innovative demonstration marks the latest milestone in an 18-month collaboration between MediaKind and Tiledmedia to illustrate how 360-degree viewport adaptive ClearVR video can augment the traditional live broadcast consumer experience and bring fans closer to the action.

Angel Ruiz, CEO, MediaKind said: “Consumers are always seeking new ways to experience their favorite sports content. Through the rapid evolution of 360-degree technology, we have the potential to push boundaries and take the consumer to the heart of the game itself. The success of this world first live sport event using 6K 360-degree video with ClearVR tiled format is a major milestone for our team of engineers and our partners who turned this around in a short space of time. This demonstration encompasses MediaKind’s singular goal: to enable our customers to create and efficiently deliver immersive media experiences.”

Magnum Film acted as a general contractor, responsible for the production on site and for managing the other partners together with Deutsche Telekom. INVR.SPACE was responsible for recording the 360-degree streams in 6K resolution. MediaKind transferred the streams to the cloud and processed, encoded and distributed them via a CDN for Magenta VR users. Tiledmedia’s innovative tile-based streaming technology was integrated in the MediaKind platform as well as the Magenta VR app, allowing streaming in high quality via regular internet connections and even over 4G. Iconic Engine implemented support for the tile-based live stream in the Magenta VR App for an intuitive, immersive and interactive experience.

The 360-degree live encoder was built using MediaKind’s virtualized software encoding technology and deployed in Google Cloud Platform. The devops approach to deployment and operation used MediaKind’s software-based probes to monitor every point of data traffic flow and cloud processing operation, create customizable and detailed operational dashboards using common cloud visualization tools, and orchestration to deploy, scale, and tear-down the entire public-cloud based 360-degree live encoder workflow as needed.

The event was sponsored by Deutsche Telekom’s T-Labs research team who are running an evaluation of next generation 360-degree VR technologies. Deutsche Telekom already has a commercial VR service “Magenta VR”, launched last year, as part of its national IPTV/OTT ‘Magenta TV’ service in Germany.

–ENDS–

About MediaKind

We are MediaKind, the new identity for Ericsson’s Media Solutions business. Our mission is to lead the future of global media technology and be the first choice for service providers, operators, content owners and broadcasters looking to create and deliver immersive media experiences. Drawing on our longstanding industry heritage, we are driving next-generation live and on-demand, mobile and multiscreen media experiences for everyone, everywhere. Our wide-ranging, end-to-end portfolio of video delivery solutions include: Emmy award-winning video compression solutions for contribution and direct-to-consumer video service distribution; advertising and content personalization solutions; high efficiency cloud DVR; and TV and video delivery platforms.